A major problem in developing cleansing products for skin and hair is the fact that those detergents which are the most efficient cleansing agents are most irritating to skin tissue. Hence, it is generally necessary to "trade off" cleansing efficiency with mildness to tissue.
There have been attempts to resolve this problem, but only weak compromises have been achieved. Agents, which complex with surfactants or compete with surfactants at potential binding sites or alter partition coefficients of surfactants generally interfere with the surface activity and, hence, the efficacy of the surfactant. Similarly, chemical modification of surfactants to impart mildness generally results in a loss of cleansing efficiency.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,410 discloses the combination of a betaine solution and a fatty acid monoglyceride. The monoglyceride acts as a thickener and is alleged to improve mucous membrance compatibility.
Japanese patent Early-Disclosure No. 83-125797 teaches the use of a moisture retaining agent for inhibiting the irritation to the skin caused by anionic surfactants. The moisture retaining agents taught are polyhydric alcohols such as glycerol, sorbitol and mannitol, monosaccharides such as glucose and mannose and oligosaccharides such as sucrose and maltose. The test used to determine irritation inhibition effectiveness is a closed human-body patch test. This test is not a severe test and the results are not necessarily indicative of the skin irritation hazard which might be encountered from prolonged exposure, e.g. cleansing cream as compared to shampoos which are rapidly and completely rinsed away. What is required is a compound to inhibit skin irritation caused by detergents which is effective under severe test conditions when used at low concentrations.